Last night I got an unprecedented 8 full hours of sleep. Not unlike a sprinter preparing for a big race I knew my rest was imperative if I was going to maintain the attention span required to ingest the amount of panic ABC is planning to throw at me tonight. And I'm more than prepared. I'm almost starting to believe it could happen.

From the belly of the beast, ABC NEWS:

In real life, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt says a vaccine can be manufactured to protect humans, but a bird flu pandemic right now would spread far faster than any supply.

"We don't have the capacity right now as a nation to provide the 3 million courses necessary to give every man, woman and child a course of the vaccine," Leavitt said. "We are working feverishly to assure that can be done. In three to five years, we will have the capacity to do so."

Although this movie is frightening, it offers lessons about how to prepare for a bird flu pandemic. People should have a couple of months' worth of nonperishable food, and a first aid kit with the medications you might need -- insulin, for example. Parents need to decide what they would do if children needed to stay home.